The Internet is taking on an increasingly major role in political marketing and branding strategies with political parties beginning to prioritize the development of communication actions via the Internet in their political campaigns. Blogs are being used by several groups to manage their resources and coordinate their activities both in and out of the Internet.

In “The Role of Blogs on a Successful Political Branding Strategy”, an article from the recent release of Contemporary Research in E-Branding (edited by Dr. Subir Bandyopadhyay, Indiana University Northwest, USA) University of Zaragoza (Spain) professors Dr. Luis Casaló, Dr. Miguel Guinalíu, and Dr. Carlos Flavián examine how digital citizens have found in the Internet, particularly blogs, a new way of forming relationships with politicians, by communicating with them directly, coordinating their activities with other citizens with similar political ideals or even financing electoral campaigns.

“The Internet enables thousands of citizens to debate online on the topics they are most concerned for in their environment,” write Casaló, Guinalíu, and Flavián. “The breakthrough came with the Democrat party primary elections in the USA in 2003 and 2004. Blogs, together with other tools such as online fundraising and the coordination of citizens through Web sites were widely used by the Democratic candidates.”

The authors found through blogs, it is possible to call thousands of voters to attend the candidate’s meeting in a city, make economic donations, obtain up-to-date information on events, collect opinions on ideas proposed in the campaign, and recruit people who are ready to altruistically help in the campaign, among other possibilities.

(Portions of this article are excerpted from Contemporary Research in E-Branding edited by Dr. Subir Bandyopadhyay.)